Thunder Road 3 panel 36 inches by 9 feet.
Just few dabs of paint, the cleaning of the canvas edges, and the name, date and signature and this work is finished.  It has been over a month. The song Thunder Road, all ten versions in the collection,  have now a total number of 273 plays.   It would have been more except this last week, the music filter was set for Bruce Springsteen, so another 150 songs were given a chance to be heard.  Of those the one song that stuck a chord, surprisingly was Youngstown, especially the live version.  There will never be enough time in this lifetime to get to that music, but it’s effect lingers, as Thunder Road will for weeks to come.

How would this painting rate, with its rival Hallelujah, and with this artist progress?  The darkness of Hallelujah’s background and the power of blue is hard to criticize, and could have been used with Thunder, but that seemed redundant.  The strength of the violet strip in the middle of Thunder does give it a snap that the Hallelujah lacks.  Thunders eight notes are a lot more intricate in design and colors, but it is not sure that is better then the simpler , and maybe stronger, Hallelujah. The more complicated colors relationships, and shapes use in Thunder, does add considerable more interest.  The notes themselves in Thunder spin across the canvas and are more interesting then the dimmer and basic design used in Hallelujah.  Hallelujah’s word is stronger but its thickness did not seem appropriate in Thunder. Also, more important in Thunder, was that its words blend more with the whole canvases muted color theme.

One thing that grew over the weeks with Thunder, that strongly resembles Hallelujah, and even exceeds it, is its emotional impact of being music of faith. Thunder is not a song about God saving the poor soul, that cannot save itself.  It is bigger then that. It is about the strength of faith in the beliefs of two people, to lift themselves up and above that they once where. Thunder is about a chance for salvation.  Thunder is about a belief greater than any pray to God.  Thunder is about people taking control and responsibility for their own destiny.  Thunder surprised  this artist, and hopefully Thunder will stir a better understanding of what true salvation is about.

Scott Von Holzen